Minister of Works, Senator Sanusi Dagash, who disclosed this at an interactive session with State House Correspondents in Abuja, revealed that 12 of the roads were due for commissioning soon, while a total of 26 were expected to be completed by next year.
He stated: “we want to ensure that when Mr President go on campaign around the country, he has projects to commission. The policy position of government is very clear; we want the Federal Government to concentrate on the major national corridors so that we can ensure standards, security and safety of the users.
“We have 26 roads that will be ready by the end of 2011 but we believe that by March, we should be able to have another 16 projects that we will be able to present to the people that we have achieved.
“So, probably in our very short tenure of about a year and two months, we would have been able to say we have completed 26 projects out of 127 projects that we met. So, by any standard, that would have been a reasonable success considering between 19991 and 2009 when only about 14 projects were actually commissioned,” he said.
Dagash regretted the level of deterioration of the nation’s roads especially the nation’s major corridors and therefore advocated the setting aside of an emergency fund specifically for road maintenance.
While also calling for ways to elongate the lifespan of such roads, he remarked that most highways had gone through their life cycle of between 20 and 25 years and attributed the high level of dilapidation to movement of excessive loads by trucks.
The minister, who harped on the need for regular maintenance of existing roads, also regretted that inadequate funding had continued to constitute major challenge to the ministry in the execution of its projects.
| Posted: at | |
TRENDING GISTS 
2025 U-20 AFCON: Check Out All 8 Teams That Qualified For Quarter-Finals
Watch Loved-Up Moment Portable's Wife, Ashabi Shared With The Singer (Video)
Police Arrest Suspected Ritualist With Human Organs In Lagos
PHOTOS: Troops Arrest Notorious Gunrunners, Recover Arms In Kaduna